About a year and a half ago, John Chavarria and his partner began rescuing dachshunds — more than 20 dogs so far. “I don’t charge for the adoptions,” says John, “I just want to find them a good home.”
Late on a recent Sunday night, John received a text saying a dachshund was in a “bad situation.” Apparently, the novelty had worn off and the owners no longer wanted the dog. So John did what he always does: He had OnStar run an On-Demand Diagnostics check
“It said I had a cooling element problem. Here in Texas, if you don’t have air conditioning, it would be pretty hot really quickly.” Thankfully, he discovered the problem before the AC went out. “I definitely get my money’s worth with OnStar.”
Once he got out on the road, John says the hour-and-a-half drive to Round Rock, Texas, near Austin, was uneventful. He picked up Oscar the dachshund, who was a little shy, and headed home. But on the return trip, John hit something, blowing out a tire.
Despite the late hour, John wasn’t worried. “I have OnStar,” he says. “I hit the blue OnStar button and in less than 20 minutes someone was at my car.”
As fortune would have it, John didn’t have a spare and the tow truck driver had to take him and Oscar to buy a new tire. While John went inside to purchase what he needed, the driver played with Oscar. On the way home, the driver asked John lots of questions about the friendly little dog. After they returned home in the wee hours of the morning, John discovered a message on his phone. It was the tow truck driver calling about Oscar. He was smitten.
“He figured I had the accident because he was supposed to have Oscar,” John says. “We became friends, and now Oscar travels with him at night as he works. It’s a happy ending.”
